Systems and methods for reducing the occurrence of annoying voice calls

Abstract

A system penalizes callers for annoying voice calls. The system identifies a caller ( 540 ) associated with a call to a called party in response to invocation of a feature activation code by the called party. The system records the occurrence of the feature activation code invocation ( 550 ) and notifies a billing entity ( 560 ) of the identity of the caller and the invocation of the feature activation code so that the billing entity can charge the caller for the call to the called party.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A method for penalizing callers for annoying voice calls, comprising: 
       identifying a caller associated with a call to a called party in response to invocation of a feature activation code by the called party;  
       recording the invocation of the feature activation code;  
       notifying a billing entity of the identity of the caller and the invocation of the feature activation code so that the billing entity can charge the caller; and  
       notifying the billing entity of an identity of the called party and the invocation of the feature activation code so that the billing entity can charge the called party.  
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying includes: 
       obtaining caller identification information from the call.  
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recording includes: 
       storing a flag in a record corresponding to the called party to reflect the invocation of the feature activation code.  
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the recording includes: 
       generating a message regarding the invocation of the feature activation code.  
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the notifying includes: 
       generating a message containing the identity of the caller and reflecting the invocation of the feature activation code, and  
       transmitting the message to the billing entity.  
     
     
       6. A system for penalizing callers for annoying calls, comprising: 
       means for receiving at least one notification of an invocation of a feature activation code by called parties associated with calls from callers;  
       means for identifying the callers associated with the calls in response to the notifications; and  
       means for notifying a billing entity of the identities of the callers, identities of the called parties, and the invocations of the feature activation code so that the billing entity can charge the callers and the called parties.  
     
     
       7. A system for penalizing callers for annoying voice calls, comprising: 
       a memory configured to store a subscriber database having a plurality of subscriber records; and  
       a processor configured to:  
       identify a caller associated with a call to a subscriber in response to invocation of a feature activation code by the subscriber,  
       record the invocation of the feature activation code in a subscriber record in the subscriber database, and  
       notify a billing entity of the identity of the caller, an identity of the subscriber, and the invocation of the feature activation code so that the billing entity can charge the caller and the subscriber.  
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to obtain caller identification information from the call. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to store a flag in the subscriber record to reflect the invocation of the feature activation code. 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to generate a message regarding the invocation of the feature activation code. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to generate a message containing the identity of the caller and reflecting the invocation of the feature activation code, and transmit the message to the billing entity. 
     
     
       12. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the billing entity is a telephone company. 
     
     
       13. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions executable by at least one processor to perform a method for penalizing callers for annoying calls, the computer-readable medium comprising: 
       instructions for identifying one or more callers associated with calls to called parties in response to invocations of a feature activation code by the called parties;  
       instructions for recording the invocations of the feature activation code; and  
       instructions for notifying a billing entity of the identities of the callers, identities of the called parties, and the invocations of the feature activation code so that the billing entity can charge the callers and the called parties.  
     
     
       14. A method for providing a caller penalizing service, comprising: 
       detecting invocation of the caller penalizing service by a called party for a call from a caller to the called party;  
       charging the caller a first fee for the call; and  
       charging the called party a second fee for invocation of the caller penalizing service.  
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the detecting includes: 
       receiving a feature activation code from the called party, the feature activation code invoking the caller penalizing service.  
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the charging the caller includes: 
       imposing a fine on the caller.  
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the imposing includes: 
       determining a number of fines previously imposed on the caller, and  
       calculating an amount of the fine based on the determined number.  
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the charging the called party includes: 
       charging the called party the second fee for each invocation of the caller penalizing service.  
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the charging the called party includes: 
       charging the called party the second fee on a periodic basis for use of the caller penalizing service.  
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the second fee is nothing.